Sailing away on the Norwegian Epic {part 3}

We're onboard the Norwegian Epic, and ready to hit the open waters. Catch up on part 1 of my review here, and part 2 here.

Some people choose a cruise based on the ports of call they'll be visiting. I prefer to choose based on the ship and onboard amenities, but our ports of call on the Epic were pretty, well, Epic. We were on an Eastern Caribbean itinerary which sailed out of Miami to St. Martaan, St. Thomas, and Nassau. This was a 7 day cruise, so we had 3 sea days as well.

Here are some of the highlights of our excursions:

St. Martaan (or St. Martin depending on which side of the island you're on)
We chose the Ultimate Island Tour & Explorer Cruise excursion offered by NCL. This was a relaxing way to see both the Dutch and French sides of the island, and learn a lot of history about the island. Our tour guide on the bus ride was Cecilia. She had a heavy accent and I felt like I was comprehending her in slow motion. I had to really slow down and listen to everything she said so I could understand her. She was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor.

View from where our ship was docked

Bus tour

After about 20 minutes on the bus with Cecilia, we boarded our Explorer cruise. As soon as we stepped foot on the boat, the dark skies welcomed us with heavy rain and wind. What a nightmare! We were able to grab chairs on the top deck, which was covered, and rum punch to warm us up. Did I mention that the boat has unlimited rum punch? I think I might have had 3 glasses before we reached Marigot.

The sun came out shortly after the Explorer left the dock. Whew!

Gorgeous Marigot area

We were dropped off for an hour in Marigot. This was a marina shopping area on the French side of the island. Well if I can't be in Paris this year, I was going to soak up being in a French territory! The merchants accepted Euros and all spoke perfect French. Even the handwriting was very French - I loved looking at all of the menu boards.

French handwriting, French cuisine = I'm in France! 

We opted to eat lunch instead of shopping. We ended up with a crepe and a pizza. Even after 3 days of all you can eat pizza onboard the Epic, I was craving pizza for some reason. Both dishes were good, but a little pricey after factoring in the Euro to US Dollar conversion.

Jambon, fromage, and oeuf crepe

Margherita pizza

After our hour flew by, we were back on the bus with Cecilia to return back to our ship. We had the option of being dropped off in the shopping area, but we chose to return to our home away from home on the Epic.

St. Thomas

St. Thomas was pretty darn close to paradise. You know those images with the crystal blue water and the palm trees? Yep, that's where we were. We chose the St. John Champagne Catamaran Sail and Snorkel offered by NCL. This was the highest rated excursion offered for our itinerary and all of the reviews I found online were good as well. Plus, it had "champagne" in the name, so I knew it had to be good!

We had a short ride to the dock where we were greeted by our catamaran crew. We saw a boat docked in the marina that was from St. Petersburg, Florida. What a small world! I had to get a picture of that!

When we were leaving we actually saw Mr. and Mrs. Mango Man on their boat. We told them we were also from St. Petersburg. The Mango's had been docked in St. Thomas for 3 months and they were getting ready to head out to the British Virgin Islands. This is where I almost had my Chris Gardner moment, "What do you do and how do you do it?"

The scenery on the ride to our near private island, St. John, was beautiful. We arrived at the snorkeling destination and had an hour or two to explore. I am not a snorkeler, so we headed to the beach and enjoyed the water. You could almost see your feet through the water, it was that clear.

Before we knew it, we headed back onboard our catamaran for some drinks and snacks. Being bummed about leaving the island was made better with unlimited champagne and rum punch. How many rum punches could we drink before we headed back onboard the Epic? Not enough :)

Bye bye St. John! 

Fueling up

Nassau
We actually decided to stay onboard the Epic instead of doing an excursion in Nassau. I've been to Nassau 3 times on cruises and never gotten off of the boat there. Either I am really missing out or I'm not missing much at all.

Stay tuned for part 4 of my vacation recap - featuring all of the onboard features of the Epic!

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